Consultation on Vision for Older People's Care in Glasgow City

April 15, 2013 1:57 PM

A consultation has today been launched inviting older people, their carers and other interested groups to have their say in improving services for older people in Glasgow city.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Glasgow City Council, Scottish Care and Glasgow Council for the Voluntary Sector have jointly drawn up an ambitious plan setting out proposals to develop services in partnership over the next three years to achieve their joint vision for Glasgow to be a great place for people to live and grow old in safely and healthily.

Many older people have already worked with the four partners to develop this plan. They have set out quite clearly that they would like to see Glasgow as a city:

• where age does not mean losing the right to make choices and having control of their lives,
• where services are joined up with all service providers working together, and
• where older people can be supported to live in their homes for longer.

David Walker, Director Glasgow City Community Health Partnership, South Sector, said: “It is anticipated that the number of people 85 and over in Glasgow will increase by 10 per cent over the next three years.

“Huge progress has already been made in the standards of care on offer across Scotland however we need to find new ways of delivering services to many more older people and we also need to be able to fund these services.”

Councillor Matthew Kerr, Executive Member for Social Care, Glasgow City Council, said: “We need to develop plans so that older people can do as much as possible for themselves with support from us as necessary enabling them to stay safely in their own home and communities for as long as possible.”

Some of the proposed changes included within the joint plan will see:

• a shift away from generic long-term care, with people being supported to remain longer in their own homes,
• a corresponding shift towards higher dependency palliative and end of life care on the one hand, and shorter-term rehabilitative care on the other,
• an increased need for respite care,
• an increased need for specialist dementia provision and,
• the need for intermediate (step up/step-down) care as an alternative to people being admitted to or remaining in hospital unnecessarily.

Helen Macneil, Chief Executive, Glasgow Council for the Voluntary Sector, said: “The task we face to deliver this re-designed care system is large and complex, which is why it is essential that as partners we work together to develop joined up seamless services and that these new community services are developed hand in hand with older people themselves.”

Ranald Mair, Chief executive, Scottish Care, said: “This is the first time that as partners we have set out our plans for improving older people’s services in the city. This is challenging but also a great opportunity. We are confident from what older people have already told us that this is what people in Glasgow would like to see and now we are keen to hear what the wider public think about our proposals.”

The consultation will run for 10 weeks concluding on Friday 28th June.